Aruanda - Capoeira Apeldoorn

Capoeira emerged in Brazil in the 16th century within the slave system that mixed indigenous people, Africans, crioulos (blacks born in Brazil), ladinos (Africans already baptized and Portuguese speakers), and, to a lesser extent, white prisoners of war or those convicted for debts or crimes.

Each group of enslaved people had different tasks and treatments, which made interaction difficult. It is impossible to quantify the influence of each group in the creation of capoeira or to determine exactly when and how it emerged, due to the scarcity of reliable historical documents and the size of Brazilian territory. However, it is known that enslaved Africans were the main users of capoeira as a means of fighting for their own freedom. A popular summary of the 1694 letter from the governor of Pernambuco, Caetano de Melo e Castro, describes the efficiency and concern regarding this: “It is harder to defeat a quilombo than the Dutch invaders.”

Since many activities were forbidden to enslaved people, capoeira became known as “the dance that deceives death”. Using malandragem — a concept in capoeira that refers to the ability to deal with difficult situations through strategies such as irony, creativity, and adaptation — they began to disguise the martial art as dance and ritual, performing rhythmic and acrobatic movements that allowed them to exercise, train, and protect themselves without raising suspicion.

Today, capoeira has undergone several transformations. For some, it has become a tourist attraction; for others, recreational dance, sport, a way to lose weight, or therapy. Two aspects considered central — its martial nature and traditions — have been downplayed in some schools, which prioritize performances and rarely teach traditions, even the simplest ones, such as the meaning of the song "Amanhã é dia santo".

• Indigenous: Emerging in pre-colonial Brazil, before the arrival of Africans, among tribes such as the Aymoré (Bahia) and Goitacá (Rio de Janeiro), where historians have proven that these tribes already valued combat and resistance to slavery.
• Afro-Brazilian: Created in colonial Brazil by enslaved Africans and their descendants, combining African traditions with the reality of slavery, including dance, music, and resistance. Many historians attribute this origin, as without the demographic continuity of this group, capoeira would have been forgotten.
• African: Brought by Africans from central-southern Africa, who preserved war training and rituals. The N’golo from Angola is considered an important reference.

Both indigenous and African groups show similarities in fighting and dance movements used in the oldest documented capoeira, making it difficult to define a single origin. Each school tends to accept one of these theories based on its principles.

• Bahia (Salvador/Recôncavo): Considered the main cradle of capoeira in the 16th century, with Bantu enslaved people merging African rituals and disguised resistance to colonial oppression.
• Rio de Janeiro: Developed since the 16th century in ports, with urban maltas and strategies of social and political evasion.
• Pernambuco (Recife): Possible origin in sugar plantation quilombos and folguedos that promoted solidarity among enslaved people.

Besides these regions, studies point to other locations, such as Pará (Belém), where there are records of capoeira in contexts of revolts and ethnic disputes, but hypotheses about any other city beyond the three main ones are more recent and less accepted. Even among them, other motives are usually discarded, showing how political and socio-cultural motives often outweigh facts and make it difficult to reach the truth.

Dutch Calvinism, the dominant religion at the time, avoided religious syncretism, preserving African traits in rituals and resistance behaviors. This context contributed to the addition/maintenance of African elements in capoeira.

With Dutch control of Pernambuco during this period, the West India Company intensified the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans. This combination of mass escapes and expanded trade favored the growth of resistance communities, especially the Quilombo dos Palmares.

Palmares became the largest and most important quilombo in the history of colonial Brazil, lasting about 69 years, with an estimated area comparable to the size of Portugal at its peak.